Thousands march Vancouver's streets to demand climate change action

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VANCOUVER — First Nations drummers led the way as a crowd of thousands wound through downtown Vancouver on a frigid Sunday afternoon for the Global Climate March.

People across Canada marched in similar demonstrations this weekend ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris, where world leaders will discuss greenhouse gas reduction targets.

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Indigenous speakers dominated the stage in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, which Audrey Siegl of the Musqueam Nation described as an important gesture.

“First Nations voices need to be prioritized here, because we are the original keepers of this land, we are still the caretakers of this land. That’s why we’re out there, on the front lines,” she said in an interview before the march.

She said she hoped that the talks in Paris would bring real action on emissions, instead of promises of further negotiations.

“There’s no more compromises to made, there are no more studies that need to be done before the time for action starts. Not just cutting back on the fossil fuels, but cutting them,” Siegl said.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs shivered as he waited to take the stage, warming himself with a cup of coffee.

“I’m here because I’ve been blessed with 15 grandchildren, the most beautiful grandchildren in the entire universe, and I know that their future is in peril with respect to global warming and climate change,” he said.

“We’re in a state of crisis here. Every year we watch the southwest completely incinerate and this year we suffered unprecedented drought conditions…. I watched our rivers and streams completely disappear.”

The climate march was put together by a coalition of environmentalists, First Nations and other organizations, and it attracted a motley crowd of activists.

Anti-fish farming protesters dressed like wild salmon and pretended to swim down Georgia Street. A small crew of vegans wore cow costumes and held signs breaking down the environmental costs of cattle farming.

At the Esso gas station at Davie and Burrard, four activists scrambled onto the shelter above the gas pumps and unfurled a banner reading “Climb it change” as police officers watched and waited below.

And it wouldn’t be a protest without the Raging Grannies, those social justice activists in their long skirts and outlandish hats. Granny Barbara Siefred held a bright pink sign reading “Climate Action: New Paris Fashion.”

“I used to go to Paris for fashion, because I was in the fashion business,” she explained.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Christy Clark and Mayor Gregor Robertson will all be in France for the talks this week.

Robertson met with Trudeau on Sunday, and the mayor said he was hopeful that Canada would be able to “help secure a bold and comprehensive agreement to reduce emissions and to fight climate change with every resource available to the global community.”

Vancouver councillors recently voted on a broad plan for the city to phase out fossil fuels by 2050 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent.

The talks in Paris begin just days after B.C.’s government-appointed climate leadership team released its recommendations for dealing with reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The team called for the expansion of the carbon tax and a 40-per-cent reduction in emissions from 2007 levels by 2030. That means the province would back away from the previously legislated target of a 33-per-cent drop below 2007 levels by 2020, which the climate team described as too ambitious to reach.

The carbon tax, on the other hand, has been frozen at $30/tonne until 2018, and the government has said that it will only consider an increase if “emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries” are exempt.

Some environmentalists have criticized the recommendations, saying they’re a good start but they don’t go far enough.

“It is a sad day for British Columbia when failing to meet legislated targets is what passes for climate leadership,” Sierra Club BC’s campaign director Caitlyn Vernon said in a press release.

The province is set to begin consultations in January with industry and the public on the next phase of the climate plan.

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Thousands march Vancouver's streets to demand climate change action

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